


A New Style

by Falco_Player



Series: New Faces-Verse [3]
Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Basically a moveset showcase, Gen, Give Alph his own slot you cowards, Minor spoilers for New Faces, Minor spoilers for Pikmin 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27886564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falco_Player/pseuds/Falco_Player
Summary: An upcoming visit from his family has Alph self conscious about his lack of involvement with the Smashers. With a little help he begins to look into developing his own fighting style.
Series: New Faces-Verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043433
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	A New Style

Alph was hard at work in Smash Fortress. He had taken one of the work rooms in the lower section of the fortress to work on his current project. The room was fairly small but Alph found he worked best in small spaces. The whiteboard on the back wall was filled with equations and drawings, with the occasional word thrown in. He sat down at the table and went over the problem again.

While magic was responsible for the fortress being able to fly and travel through worlds, that made it highly vulnerable to anyone who could nullify magic. When traveling through worlds nothing could be dismissed as too unlikely to happen. So Alph was part of the team that had been tasked with making technological back ups for Smash Fortress, his focus was on making sure the fortress could travel through space even without magic. He had forgotten all about the upcoming holiday, his mind focused on his work instead.

Moving through space itself was the easy part. The hard part was finding a way for a large fortress to reach escape velocity. Alph had only been able to get a few basic pieces of advice from his grandfather due to how different Smash Fortress was from a typical spaceship. The S.S Drake had been designed to be able to reach escape velocity from planets with as much as five times the gravity of Koppai, in the end that had proven redundant when the SPERO probe discovered PNF-404, which had only a tenth of Koppai’s gravity. But there hadn’t been time to tailor the Drake to PNF-404’s gravity. Alph’s grandfather was the one who pointed out that the crash or Brittany’s mid-flight ejection could have been prevented if he had been given the time to upgrade its defenses, which had earned the heads of the Koppai Space Program a long rant.

With Master Hand’s powers changing the material Smash Fortress was made of would be easy, if it was needed. The challenge was seeing if it could be left as it was, which was complicated by the matter of all the people and the possessions they brought with them. An enforced weight limit would go over poorly with many of the Smashers. But it was the additional weight from everything and everyone on the fortress that had Alph wondering if it could consistently take off, he had already confirmed the fortress by itself with nothing inside could do so with the right equipment. A ping on Alph’s KopPad shook him from his contemplation. It was a message from Alph’s grandfather saying that he was looking forward to seeing one of Alph’s matches. That made Alph panic.

There was only one reason Alph had joined the Smashers, to secure aid for Koppai. His focus had always been more on ensuring there wouldn’t be another food crisis. So Alph had simply copied Olimar’s fighting style. As a veteran Smasher and leader of Pikmin it only made sense Olimar would have the superior understanding of combat. Which meant many fellow Smashers had barely noticed him, he didn’t stand out in fights and he had rarely been at the mansion before it was destroyed.

That hadn’t bothered him before. But Alph’s family would be visiting the fortress soon and they had built up a certain image of him, despite Alph’s repeated insistence otherwise. Saving his entire race had gotten Alph more attention and praise than he liked. The expectations placed on him only seemed to have magnified since returning from PNF 404. Alph tried to distract himself by refocusing on his work, but the sense of dread was inescapable. He wasn’t looking forward to disappointing his family.

The door opened. Falco walked in. “Hey, Alph right? I need someone to check my Arwing, think something might be off with it.” Alph turned to face Falco.

“Can it wait? I’m in the middle of important work. And I have some personal matters distracting me right now, so I’m not in the best state to handle your Arwing,” Alph said.

“If I help with the personal thing can you check out the Arwing?” Falco asked. He tapped his foot against the floor.

“I’m not sure it’s something you can help with. My family is visiting and despite constantly telling them I’m not that involved with the Smashers they think I’m a major member.”

“Just the fact that you’re a Smasher is a thing to brag about if you ask me.”

“Well it’s not like I have my own style, I’ve just done what Captain Olimar does. But they’ll be expecting something more than that,” Alph said. He looked down at the floor.

“Eh, Daisy fights exactly like Peach and it doesn’t bother either of them. You’re freaking out over nothing. Besides if you’re worried about being too similar to Olimar you can just do something different, hell you can even just use some of his old moves. Or those Rock Pikmin he doesn’t use. If you agree to do maintenance on my Arwing we can hit up the training room and I’ll help you try out some new moves.”

“Really? That would be great.” Alph had looked into Olimar’s old matches before, which had allowed him to spot changes in Olimar’s fighting style. Still there had to have been a reason Olimar no longer fought like that. But Alph could start there and figure out another way to innovate, like using other types of Pikmin. Alph stood up and walked out of the room with Falco.

The windows offered Alph a look into the cosmos as he walked through the much larger hallway. In outer space it was even easier for him to lose track of time. Falco walked so quickly that Alph had little time to star gaze. The battle room was only a short walk from Alph’s work room, and Falco’s impatience made it even shorter. When the door to the battle room opened Alph only had some basic ideas about what to do.

It was the first time Alph had been in the battle room in Smash Fortress, it looked exactly like the one that had been in the mansion. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all a bland featureless white. It was somewhat infamous for being unnerving in that state. Thankfully it was also the least used form of that room. Falco walked up to the panel in the wall at the other end of the room. “You ready?” Falco asked.

“Yes.” Alph tried to calm himself. Falco pressed the button, and the room began to transform. The door vanished and the walls moved away. Gradually the terrain of the room shifted to its simulation of the Garden of Hope. It almost felt like they had been teleported there, but Alph knew better. The image of the S.S Drake in the background broke the illusion for him, since in reality it was back on Koppai.

The countdown started. Alph summoned three Pikmin, an even split of red, blue, and yellow. The battle room could teleport Pikmin in and out to more closely simulate a real battle involving Pikmin without any actual casualties. Falco got into a fighting stance. The countdown ended. Alph quickly summoned three more Pikmin and plucked them out of the ground. Thanks to the uneven terrain Falco couldn’t use his blaster yet, giving Alph the time to add three more Pikmin to his group, one flying, one rock, and one red.

Alph jumped backwards over the pot. Falco opted to focus on destroying the pot. When Alph landed on the other side of the pot he threw punches at it. The pot shattered. Alph whistled. The Pikmin charged at Falco. Falco jumped up to avoid them. The flying Pikmin pursued him and latched on. Alph panicked and whistled again. His Pikmin returned to him. He didn’t want to risk losing the flying Pikmin to one of Falco’s aerial attacks already. But seeing how it had pursued Falco gave him some ideas.

Falco landed and kicked his reflector forward, it shocked Alph. Then Falco swiped at Alph with his tail, launching Alph into the air. Falco pursued with a jump and then spun at Alph like a drill. The hit sent Alph back, and Falco pursued with another use of the same attack. Alph was nearly at the blast zone. Falco landed on one of the pulley platforms, it began to lower as its counterpart on the other side of the stage ascended. While Alph descended towards it, Falco leapt back up to the main stage.

The platform had a few seconds to rise before Alph landed, sending it down again. Alph grabbed one of his Pikmin and jumped up. The Pikmin formed a chain, with the Flying Pikmin at the end. The Flying Pikmin was able to pull the chain up a short distance, which was just enough to grab the ledge. Alph knew he had only even gotten that chance because of Falco going easy on him. In a real match Falco never give up a chance to pressure his opponents. With a groan Alph pulled himself up from the ledge. Falco fired a blaster shot at him. That was more typical.

In the background simulated Pikmin were carrying fragments of the shattered pot. There was barely time for Alph to notice it with Falco running at him.The Rock Pikmin grabbed Falco and waited for Alph’s command. The battle paused for a few seconds. The pot was beginning to be rebuilt. Then the Rock Pikmin performed a jumping pile driver on Falco and returned to Alph. Falco was trapped inside the pot. Alph jumped over the pot and got on the bridge in the center of the stage.

Eventually Falco was able to break the pot. He was met with another Pikmin charge. Before he could throw the Pikmin off, Alph jumped at him and spun. Falco was sent up into the air. Alph whistled and jumped. He tossed the Flying Pikmin up at Falco. It head butted him, keeping him in the air. Falco enveloped himself in flames. Alph retreated to the bridge. Falco rammed into the bridge. Before Alph could think he threw a Flying Pikmin at Falco. It knocked him back, but any other Pikmin would have been more effective. That was another point Alph could berate himself for later, he should have already known Flying Pikmin were only useful against airborne or very tall enemies.

What Alph needed was time to think. He had the Pikmin charge at Falco to buy time. Then he ran across the bridge to the other side of the stage, jumping over the long stick. Falco followed, the Pikmin striking him until he threw them off with a spinning chop. The Pikmin returned to Alph when he whistled. When Falco landed in front of Alph a Rock Pikmin slammed into him. The impact did a good amount of damage to Falco, but he had barely been knocked back. Falco kicked at Alph. Alph summoned his shield and blocked it. A red Pikmin grabbed Falco and threw him off the stage

The pulley platform gave Falco a safe landing. He jumped back up towards the stage, going over the stage’s edge. Alph jumped forward and swung a Rock Pikmin like a sword. The hit connected. Falco crashed down through the gap between the stage and the pulley platform, right to the blast zone.

**GAME!**

In an instant the battle room returned to its bland white state. Alph had not been expecting to win. “Thank you for your help Falco. But, I’m not sure if this way of fighting is better than the one Olimar uses. You had to go easy on me, so that wasn’t a real win.”

“Of course it’s not a real win, this wasn’t a real battle. If it was an actual battle I wouldn’t have gone easy on you,” Falco said. He leaned against the wall. “You’ve got your own style now, you shouldn’t give it up. Way too many people have felt the need to lecture me on how kicking my reflector isn’t optimal, so I told them to screw off.”

“I’ll take your words to heart. I’m really grateful for your support. And I think the way you use your reflector is cool. As an engineer it makes me happy when my creations can be used for a variety of unintended functions, it’s a testament to how well crafted a design is.” Alph shifted his feet.

“Well nice to see some people appreciate me. Slippy was so mad the first time I showed him that trick. Went on about how I was leaving myself open to other projectiles, I responded that if he didn’t want it to be thrown he shouldn’t have made it work like a boomerang. Plus that thing can do some damage on its own, so why not get some more use of that,” Falco said. He took his reflector and began tossing it between his hands.

“I don’t have the creativity to experiment like that, so I look up to people who do. One time on PNF-404 we came across some fruit hidden behind a weight puzzle. I was going to try and solve it, but then Brittany just threw Flying Pikmin to carry the fruit over the platforms without lowering them,” Alph said. As he was talking something occurred to him. “I have to go share a new idea with Master Hand. I’ll get to work on your Arwing immediately afterwards. Thank you again.” Alph took off before Falco had a chance to respond.

Alph ran through the hallway to the nearest elevator, taking it up to the ground floor. Then he went to the central elevator and rode it up to the top of the central tower, which housed the meeting room and the Hands office. The doors to those rooms were right next to each other on the wall opposite of the elevator. In Alph’s opinion, the space between the elevator and the doors to the rooms in the tower was too big for something that only existed to connect places. Maybe he could look into finding an additional use for it later.

Alph knocked on the door to Master Hand’s office. Isabelle opened the door. Master Hand was hovering behind a large wooden desk and gestured for Alph to come in. “I think I’ve found a solution to the weight problem with people’s possessions. If we use anti gravity devices on furniture and storage bins we can allow people to keep all of their possessions without getting in the way of our ability to reach escape velocity, they’ll be hovering over the floor so they won’t count towards the weight of the fortress. We could even use Flying Pikmin for some items, and our smaller spacecraft can hover in place in the hangar,” Alph said. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he talked.

“Oh that’s clever. I already know of some places where we can get that technology,” Master Hand said.

“That would also make cleaning easier, no more getting down to look under the couch,” Isabelle said. “Oh we’re touching down in Inkopolis next, do you want to go shopping with me Alph?”

“Thank you, and yes I would. Now I have to go work on Falco’s Arwing.” Alph waved goodbye and left the office. He made a note to carve out some time for more sparring matches in order to further develop his own fighting style. And he was looking forward to showing his grandfather around the fortress.

**Author's Note:**

> Playing Pikmin 3 Deluxe has put me into a very Pikmin focused mood, so I decided to give some love to a very overlooked member of the Smash Bros roster. This was also a way for me to experiment with writing out Smash battles involving stuff not in the game, you can expect more stuff like that in New Faces. I was disappointed when Ultimate didn't even upgrade Alph to echo status, especially since some of the ones added in Ultimate are basically fancier alts. If you want a place to talk about Smash fanfic try out Super Smash Prose, a discord all about Smash fanworks: https://discord.gg/gDK48ua


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